Lightning Bolt

Lightning Bolt
Lightning Bolt artwork from Brawl.
Universe	Mario Kart
Appears in	Brawl
Item class	Status
Article on Super Mario Wiki	Thunderbolt (item)

The Lightning Bolt, known in Japan as Thunder (サンダー, Sandā), is an item from the Mario Kart series.

In the Super Smash Bros. series

The Lightning Bolt appears as an item in Brawl. When used, it will shrink every other character to minimal size, similar to its function in the Mario Kart series. However, the item can backfire as well, resulting in the player who picked up the item grow small instead or making the other characters size increase (similar to the effects of the Super Mushroom, except that it's twice as effective). Unlike most other items, the Lightning Bolt requires a character to simply make contact with it in order to gain its effect. The Lightning Bolt also appears as a collectible trophy.

Trophy description

An item that goes off the moment you touch it. It may shrink every other character on the screen. Tiny players suffer a reduction in their attack power and become easier to send flying. After a set amount of time, all the characters will return to their normal sizes. In the Mario Kart series, all players but the item user shrunk, and got flattened when run over.

• Super Mario Kart (1992)
• Mario Kart 64 (1997)

Origin

The Lightning Bolt's primary effect comes from the Mario Kart series. Racers at the back of a race have a chance of acquiring a Lightning Bolt (sometimes named Thunderbolt), which upon use instantly strikes all other racers, spins them out, and causes them to shrink. Shrunk racers have lowered top speed and may be easily knocked around or even flattened when run over. Beginning in Mario Kart DS, the length of the shrink time depends on what place each opponent was in when the item was used, with those at the back regrowing near-instantly and those are the front staying shrunk for much longer. The item cannot backfire as it does in Brawl.

Transform glitch

If a character uses the Lightning Bolt on Zelda or Sheik and Zelda/Sheik Transforms, the glitch makes the size of the Lightning Bolt user permanent until Zelda/Sheik gets KO'd or grabs another size-changing item.

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Trivia

• Any character that is affected by knockback before the Lightning Bolt's shrink/growth takes place will still be affected by knockback after the shrink/growth occurs. Similar phenomena occur with the Super Mushroom and Poison Mushroom.